New Beginnings (Dragon Age: Origins)
by abbles
Summary: Characters, places, and all that jazz belong to BioWare. Only original character is Evangeline Cousland. I haven't written a fanfic since my Quizilla days (and believe me, that was waaaay back when I was in middle school). I'm sorry if it seems a little slow for now, but I'm still working on a good place to really jump in on the action. I hope you enjoy my first DA: O fanfic!


Silence. The majority of this incredibly long journey was filled with silence. And yet, even though their destination was almost in sight, it wasn't close to being over. Their destination was in Ostagar, a ruin that was located down in the southeast.

In all honesty, if it was not for the Warden Commander of the Fereldan Grey Wardens, Duncan, Evangeline Cousland probably would not be alive to this day. It was him after all that saved her from the attack at Castle Cousland in Highever. She was grateful for all that Duncan had done for her so far, and felt she had to repay him in some way. How was she going to repay him? Why, becoming a Grey Warden, of course. Her hazel eyes glanced up ahead at Duncan before her attention turned to the scenery around her.

"_You were the one I wanted, Evangeline. You will become an excellent Grey Warden, I'm sure of it."_

The words echoed in her head, and soon the vision of her dying father and armed mother formed. She felt awful. Terrible. Worthless. How could one just leave her family behind like that? At least her brother was still alive, or so she had prayed. Lucky for Fergus, he made it out just in time before the attack. One thing was certain: Eva would get her revenge on the Howes for doing such a terrible thing to her family.

'_Rotten piece of shit. I'll come after you, Rendon, I swear it.'_

Her fist clenched as she thought to herself. How could someone who was supposed to be an ally just turn their backs like that? That, she would never understand. It wasn't long until her thoughts were interrupted by a low, soft voice.

"Evangeline, we have arrived."

Snapping out of her flashbacks, Eva stopped for a moment. So this was Ostagar? This was where she would be staying while she became a Grey Warden? For some reason, she pictured the ruin to look a little… different. King Cailan was here after all.

"Please," She started, her eyes glancing around Ostagar for a moment before turning back to Duncan. "Call me Eva."

He simply nodded, giving her a small smile before motioning her to walk beside him as he informed her of what was going on. All Eva could do was nod her head, trying to take in everything that was going on around her. Sure, she was a fantastic fighter and knew her way around two-handed weapons, but Eva wasn't quite sure if she was ready to become a Grey Warden.

"Duncan, you've finally made it! Ahh, and I see you brought us a new recruitment? How wonderful!"

Duncan released a low, quiet laugh before replying. "Yes, I have. King Cailan, you remember the Couslands, don't you?"

The King of Fereldan was there, standing in front of Eva, along with a few of his men. Eva might have met Cailan before, but the memory seemed to escape her.

"You must be Teyrn Bryce's daughter. I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't remember your name. You are…? Oh! And how is your father? I hope all is well with your family, yes?"

"I'm Evangeline Cousland, sir. It's a pleasure to meet you. They, err…" Eva paused as she attempted to find the right words to tell the King. Cailan, as he waited, cocked his head slightly to the right.

"My father and mother died. The castle was attacked, sir."

Cailan's bright smile soon fell into a frown. "I'm so sorry to hear this, Evangeline. That is simply awful. When this Blight is over with, if there even is a Blight, allow me to help you."

"If there is a Blight?" Questioned Duncan.

Duncan looked confused while the King looked confident.

"Please Duncan, we'll defeat the Darkspawn in no time. This is just an annoyingly boring chore." Shrugging off Duncan's question, Cailan turned around. "I'd hoped for a war like in the tales! A king riding with the fabled Grey Wardens against a tainted God!We'll be victorious, I know we will. Now if you'll excuse me, Loghain would like to speak to me. Eva, it was a pleasure. I can't wait until we can get to know each other. Allow me to be the first to welcome you to Ostagar. The Wardens will benefit greatly with you in their ranks."

And with that, the King took his leave along with his men.

"He seems… fairly confident, doesn't he?" Eva turned her attention over to Duncan, who seemed to be watching the King walk off.

"That he is. It's always good to have some confidence, but he shouldn't get cocky now."

A giggle escaped from Eva's lips. This was the first smile Eva cracked in days since the attack at Castle Cousland. In all honesty, she wasn't expecting the King of Fereldan to be so simple. At least he seemed easy to talk to.

"I have a few things I need to attend to, Eva. Why don't you have a look around? There's a Grey Warden here by the name of Alistair. If you find him, I'm sure he'd give you a tour around Ostagar. He'll be joining you eventually. Might as well meet him now."

"Alright, thank you, Duncan. For everything."

"No need to thank me, Eva. I'm sure you'll make a fine Grey Warden."

And with that, Duncan walked off, leaving Eva by herself. Now all she had to do was find a Grey Warden named Alistair. Seemed easy enough. Duncan probably would have made her life a little easier if she at least described what this Alistair character looked like. As she marched forward, attempting to find this Alistair character, she asked around, seeing if anyone could assist her. Someone was eventually nice enough to point her in the right direction. It didn't take her too long, thankfully. She stopped in her tracks when Eva finally noticed someone that matched her description. That had to be him, right? He seemed to be chit-chatting away with a mage, or it looked like the mage was shouting at the Grey Warden about something.

Waiting for their conversation to be over, Eva stood off to the side, watching from a distance. A few minutes passed, and the mage finally seemed to be done yelling at the blonde. The female made her way over to the male's form when he finally said, "You know, one good thing about the Blight is how it brings people together."

Eva smiled at his sarcasm, nodded her head and replied, "I know _exactly_ what you mean."

"Wait, we haven't met, have we? I don't suppose you must be another mage?"

A mage? No. She didn't exactly look like one, since she was in her full armor suit. You don't usually see mages prancing around in heavy armor, anyway.

"No, I am no mage. My name's Evangeline, but everyone calls me Eva. Duncan recruited me—"

But before she could finish her sentence, the male jumped right in.

"Oh! I should have recognized you right away. I apologize."

Eva began to shake her head, a small smile forming across her lips. "Oh no, it's alright. No offense taken. I'm guessing you're Alistair?"

"Yep! And as the junior member of the order, I'll be accompanying you when you prepare for the Joining."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Alistair."

With the basic introductions out of the way, the two began to walk with each other. Eva thought he seemed nice enough. The way he spoke reminded Eva of the King. The two walked in the silence for a bit while on their way to meet Duncan and the other recruits. Alistair, however, broke the silence.

"You know… it just occurred to me that there have never been many women in the Grey Wardens. I wonder why that is?"

At first, Eva didn't say anything back. She glanced up at her companion for a moment before she finally opened her mouth.

"I can handle myself better than most."

Alistair released a laugh as he nodded his head to Eva's statement.

"That is good to hear. I'm glad Duncan recruited you!"

The two then chatted away, mostly Eva asking Alistair questions about the Darkspawn, the Blight, and even how he became a Grey Warden while Alistair gladly answered. Eva, at first, wasn't too sure about becoming a Grey Warden, but after hearing what Alistair had to say and how proud he felt, she thought this was the right choice.

"Mind if I ask you a few questions about yourself, Alistair?"

"Wait a minute, you've been asking me questions non-stop. You first. Did you want to become a Grey Warden?"

Eva glanced to the side as she crossed her hands across her chest. "At first, I wasn't sure. But now? I feel like I made the right choice."

Alistair smiled at her answer before giving her a big pat on the back. "I was training as a templar for the Chantry before Duncan recruited me. That was about six months ago. He saw I wasn't happy, and figured my training against mages could double for fighting Darkspawn. Now, here I stand, a proud Grey Warden."

"Heh, you speak very fondly of Duncan." Eva responded to Alistair.

"He risked a lot of trouble with the grand cleric to help me. What about you? What do you think of him?"

"I owe him, as well. He saved me."

Alistair looked a bit curious when Eva mentioned Duncan had saved her. He, now, had a bunch of questions to ask the newest recruitment for the Grey Wardens. Blinking with a slight confused look on his face, Alistair asked, "Saved you? From?"

Not again. Eva was not in the mood to example her current situation, not now anyway. She avoided the question, as she still had questions to ask about this Joining.

"So the Joining… what am I to expect?"

"There's… not much I can tell you. We go and collect Darkspawn blood, and then you'll hear everything."

Was he lying to her? He did go through his own Joining, did he not? He was a Grey Warden after all. Her eyes narrowed slightly before she attempted to persuade him. "Surely there's something you can tell me."

Avoiding eye contact with Eva, he placed his hands behind his head before muttering, "I… look, I can't tell you much, alright?"

How strange. However, it was clear that Alistair didn't want to discuss this right now, and that was something she could understand. "That's fine, I understand."

"How about we go meet Duncan now, along with the other new recruitments, unless you had something else to ask me, that is?"

Aside from the Joining, most of her questions were answered. In the short time that Alistair and Eva had spent together, she learned more about the Blight, Darkspawn, and even a little history of the Grey Wardens and Alistair's past.

"No, let's go to Duncan. I'm ready to start my Joining."


End file.
